Omicron is serious if pre-existing condition

Omicron is milder than Delta for those who are vaccinated and boosted – and who don’t have a pre-existing condition such as asthma, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, suppressed immunity, lung or kidney compromise from previous illness, etc. In some cases, these patients may have had a “smoldering” case of diabetes or hypertension that a Covid case pushed over into serious illness.

More than half of American adults have at least one underlying chronic condition, and for many of them, the Omicron wave hasn’t been as mild as it has for the larger, healthier populations around the world.

Not to mention that older folks (like many METARs) have weaker immune systems so the boosters may not last as well as in younger populations.

Be careful out there!

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/29/health/omicron-chronic-il…

Wendy

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More than half of American adults have at least one underlying chronic condition, and for many of them, the Omicron wave hasn’t been as mild as it has for the larger, healthier populations around the world.

That’s terrible! You know that there’s something wrong when people without an underlying chronic condition are in the minority.

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My friend’s brother was unvaccinated. Unvaccinated mom came to visit and transmitted omicron to unvaccinated son. Eighty year-old Mom’s case was mild. Son developed Guillain-Barré syndrome and is looking at a very long road to recovery.

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That’s terrible! You know that there’s something wrong when people without an underlying chronic condition are in the minority.

Or it could be a sign of progress. In that frame, it means we’ve gotten better and smarter at helping people live longer with what used to be seriously life-shortening diseases.

Here’s a great article on a similar concept: https://worldwarwings.com/the-statistics-that-kept-countless… .

Take diabetes, for instance. A very close family friend is a late-developing Type 1 diabetic. She was crazy sick until they diagnosed her. Now, she lives a virtually normal life, except for the insulin pump. The alternative for her isn’t “perfect health”, it’s death. And frankly, we’re all better off with her in the world as a “person with a chronic condition”…

Regards,
-Chuck
Home Fool

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